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Monthly Archives: September 2011

The suggestion in “365: A Daily Creativity Journal” that I decided to follow today was to write a haiku about an event today. And I was in luck to have a even cat event to write about! (Well, not really… as you are about to read.)

So my most snuggly cat, Chaos Love and Joy Super Kitty, got the wrong dose of insulin this morning, because I made a mistake. I realized just after I injected it and packed him up to spend the day at the vet clinic. His blood glucose stayed normal all day because he got to eat all the high carb dry food he wanted – that made him happy! But he’s not a very good patient because he’s scared there. So this is him home tonight with his bandaid on his leg.

Doesn’t he look pitiful? I feel bad that he got tortured all day for my mistake. But I’m really happy he is fine and home tonight. He was due for bloodwork anyway, but this is not how I wanted to do it!

Today I decided to follow the challenge to make something with staples, or with a stapler. I actually found this to be really fun and quick. It’s not perfect, but it feels really cool. It’s heavy, almost like metal stitches in the paper or a flexible metal fabric. And I liked the back side, too.And yesterday I put gesso on a bristol board to prep for playing with paints.And then I put gesso on our floor – oops!!! I actually thought about smearing it around or dripping more to make a cat on the floor – this is how “infected” my brain is with this challenge! LOL! But really, I needed to clean it up before it dried.They today I cut up the board into smaller pieces and started working on some of the exercises in my library book, “Color is Everything.” I used oil paints today. And today’s lesson is that I need better ventilation in the future! LOL! I only had time to fuss with the paint for about 30 minutes, but it’s a start. And I’m out here showing y’all what a noob I am at painting!

LOVE the colors. This photo with the flash makes me want daylight bulbs to paint with. Our CFL’s may (or may not) be saving the planet, but I can’t see my paint colors well with them, darn it!

So after I did Stencil Kitty, I knew I wanted to make a stencil on a T-shirt. And today was the day! I decided I needed to make a new kitty design, so Lazy Kitty came into existence. Mostly because that’s what my real life cats are like and I’m jealous! I had bought some fabric paints a few weeks ago and a white T-shirt. I cut the stencil out of salad containers in our recycle bin. And stamped the pattern first onto a practice old T-shirt…Then worked on the new T-shirt, tipping the kitty down on the left side a little more so he looked less “dead”…and then I had a t-shirt.Things I learned today:

1) This process takes a long time from start to finish. I think it took about 4 hours or more?

2) I wish I had some black paint to make the words and the cat, then do the stars in silver glitter

3) This kitty probably would have benefited from some legs sprawling open to make him look more relaxed and less “amikufa” (Swahili for “dead,” of course. Doesn’t everybody know this?! Just kidding!).

4) There must be a way to prevent the paint from seeping out around the stencil… huh, I guess that’s one thing I did not learn today. :)

5) It would be much easier to make the stencil out of one piece of plastic, not multiple small moving ones.

Funny, today was a day when I really struggled to get an idea for a cat. And then I really had to push myself to start. Once I started, it rolled along well. Interesting to see how my brain works.

It’s after midnight and I haven’t done a cat yet, so… I’m calling this a day off.
On a happy note, I had packages waiting for me when I got home: art supplies! Woo hoo! Also a used copy of _The Journal of Eugene Delacroix_ which I’ve read is supposed to be an amazing book, a peek into an artist’s mind. Have you read this? Curious what you thought, if you did! I’m so excited! See you with a cat tomorrow +/- paint exercises if I have time.

So today’s challenge was to make something ephemeral, with bubbles, smoke, etc. I chose bubbles! I rather wish I had the bubbles with a wand and I could add bubbles of a particular size of my choosing to a particular spot, but alas I have none. And my cats today are the sadder for it. But they will survive.

Cat on a plate looked best when I first put it together. But it kept sliding and ended up morphed into something like a bunny-squirrel between his ears and tail… and what’s going on with his legs? LOL!Then I had fun with the bowl I scooped the bubbles out of. I actually found this part to be fun. I had to keep chasing the eyes and nose around to get them in the right spot, and then they would drift away again.If you let the bubbles get to close, they form Cyclops Kitty!!

Today’s cat is drawn with chalk. We have a slate kitchen counter so I made a “place mat” for my hubby’s breakfast cereal bowl. But big-headed cat (who I may name soon… hmmm, what is his name?) is hungry and wants to eat the breakfast too!Tonight’s cat is another quick one because we’re unpacking, just back from a brief trip to Maine. It was interesting to do the cats while traveling. One night I almost forgot, I was so caught up in all the distractions of the day. It took some forethought, too – I looked ahead in the 365: A Daily Creativity Journal book for ideas. Then I packed thin gauge wire, chalk, felt cat pieces (I actually cut the pieces ahead of time so I only had to sew, glue and stuff on the road) and a brought a photo of tiny heart cat with me to post. I took all my photos with my phone and posted with the WordPress app. Couldn’t figure out how to check on everyone else’s blogs while I was away, but I figured out how to keep posting on my own at least.

The suggestion for today was to make a cat from a thin gauge wire. I used floral wire, 26G. For having no training or skills with wire, I’m content. I do like that it’s 3D and stands on its own. I also have a thing for silver, so I like that it’s a shiny metallic silver color. She kinda turned out to have a sway back and a hay belly too. And her face changed shape as I was wrapping the wire. Not very cat like! Lol! Still, I’m content with this first foray into working with wire.

Sometimes once I’m done with a project, I have ideas for how I could do it differently, variations. I don’t really for this one. Maybe some wire sculpture somewhere will give me ideas.
Thanks for checking out this post and blog. Comments are welcome. Have a great night!